On September 21, 2026 -Most conversations about education start at Grade One. This session starts earlier, exploring what it takes to build early learning systems that outlast the program, the grant, and the implementer who started them. The discussion will bring together perspectives from early childhood development, teacher development, multilingual publishing, and education research to explore how to sustain teacher coaching and motivation, embed play-based learning and mother tongue instruction in national systems, strengthen evidence and feedback loops, and invest in local publishing and content industries. Participants will consider the policy, financing, institutional capacity, evidence, local ownership, and coordination needed to make quality early learning part of the system itself.
Featuring:
- Dr. Natnael Asres Yamnew, African Center for Early Childhood Development
- Mara Lee Durrell, Rise Alliance for Children
- Dr. David Johnson, University of Oxford
- Camille Park, NABU